1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for polymerizing haptens into immunogens, more particularly, to methods for polymerization of haptens into polymers having molecular weight greater than 4,000 Da, which can be used as immunogens for anti-hapten antibodies production.
2. Description of Related Art
An immunoassay is a biochemical test often used in medical diagnoses, food inspections and environmental examinations for its benefits of high sensitivity, specificity, time-efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and easy operation. In generally, test samples as antigens are injected into animals to stimulate the immune system to generate corresponding antibodies. However, some of the test samples are too small in sizes and incapable by themselves to provoke antibody production in animals. In these cases, the test samples are considered lacking of immunogenicity, and usually known as haptens. To elicit antibody production against hapten in animals, one commonly used protocol is to conjugate hapten onto a carrier protein and with which the animals are immunized. However, this approach has its limitations, such as the needs of an appropriate carrier and a suitable chemical cross-linker, which are not always easily available. Also, to gain reproducible coupling results, well-trained laboratory personnel are required for the coupling reactions often involve intricate chemical modifications of the coupled molecules. Moreover, even the coupling chemistry is successful and the immune system of the injected animal is responsive to the hapten-carrier complex, the proportion of anti-hapten antibodies to anti-carrier antibodies in the serum may still be too small to be effective because of low hapten density of the synthesized conjugate. As a result, the purification of anti-hapten antibodies becomes difficult and costly. Therefore, it is desirable to develop an easier and more efficient alternative for the production of anti-hapten antibodies.
In the present invention, we provide methods for directly polymerizing small and non-immunogenic haptens into immunogenic antigens. This invention not only simplifies the procedures of haptenic antigen preparation but also eliminate the involvement of carriers and their concomitant problems.